Finally, 2014 has arrived and in much anticipation so have the new trends and speculations about how social media and its users will evolve. What should you as a blogger pay more attention to and what platform is worth investing time in? We have a few suggestions.

The blogging community is growing and so are social platforms.

Speculations are, blogging will turn into microblogging. Long gone are the times when people sat down to read endless texts. A growing focus lies on images and videos, shorter texts and more key interaction on the right social platform.

Interacting on social media accounts has never been so important for bloggers. Some even go from barley blogging to posting on Facebook or Google+ as their main source of communication. While Facebook is still one of the most used platforms of choice, Twitter, Instagram and believe it or not, Google+ are on the rise.

Social media has gone mainstream as more and more companies rely on social media to keep their customers happy and informed, while even people who usually shy away from the internet discover a whole new world of entertainment. That means for you as a blogger and provider of information, a whole new way to look at social media as a tool for communication and trend setting.

Key social media factors to look out for:

Video implementation

With a massive increase in Youtubers and short videos used on blogs as well as other platforms like Instagram or Vine, there seems to be no way around the utilization of video formats.Creating compelling short video clips is going to be just as important as mastering the art of getting 140 characters noticed or collecting likes and shares. You may have noticed, even the advertisement industry has spread and evolved to engage with potential customers on those platforms as well. Instagram now allows ads and Facebook plans on including video options soon. Expect more platforms to synergize several options of sharing content in all types of formats. Stay ahead of the game and find here information on how to monetize your videos.

The underdog Google+

Google+ for some is still nothing more than a big question mark, but the G platform is already growing and rising to the next big thing on the social scene. It may take a while to really fall in love with this underestimated but long time coming platform but features like Google Hangouts have become a popular option to share content and to engage with users. Though slightly confusing at first, Google+ can certainly be one of the easiest to use social platforms around and already offers plenty of highly engaging features for bloggers.

Tip: Keep in mind, Google is one of the most used search engines and can determine the rank of your blog posts. Get your blog ready for Google Author Rank and Authorship here, so the next time someone Googles for e.g. “Illamasqua nail varnish in Jo’mina“, your post shows up first. Also, if someone clicks +1 underneath your post that indicates to Google your post is valuable and will therefore be ranked higher. Just one of many reasons why Google+ will be even more important for your blog in the future. Find here the ultimate guide on how to include Google+ into your blogging routine.

Everything is connected…

In today’s world, once put out in the world wide web, everything can potentially go viral. Easy sharing via Twitter, Facebook or even Pinterest enables people to communicate fast and more abrasive than ever before. All it takes is one image or one vine video to get you and your blog noticed by thousands of people. Google+ comments are now on Youtube, and Instagram allows short video clips. There is nothing that wouldn’t enable you to connect the dots and when planed well, even save time on sharing your content.

What does that mean for you as a blogger? Next time a PR agency wants to check your credibility, all they might ask for is your Klout score to know if you are a true influencer. Klout basically takes all your social accounts under consideration and calculates your social influence based on the amount of engagement. The higher your score the more influential you are. Though there might be plenty of bloggers out there with high numbers of blog subscribers, which is still a big factor, socialization on related platforms is going to be equally important in the future. Otherwise many companies or PR agencies might not see their marketing efforts paying off.

It’s more and more going to be all about the overall social influence that your blog can leverage as a reason on why brands should work with you. Check your score here.

Measure your Social Influence with Klout

Tip: Want to work in the digital media industry? The average Klout score wanted for positions surrounding social media is 50 for beginners and 60+ for professionals.

Social media tools to try in 2014:

Pixlr – This online photo editor program is very much like Photoshop but more concise. 100% mobile friendly this is nothing short of a pro to go in 2014!

The online editor Pixlr delivers great results with easy navigation.

Tweepi– Along with TweetDeck and Hootsuite one of the must-try platforms if you want to manage your social media accounts, in this case Twitter, effectively in 2014. Remember, everything is connected, so make the best of it.

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[…] If you’re still not convinced about the benefits of social networking for your blog, you can read more about it in one of our posts where we showcase iFabbo members’ ideas on how social media helps bloggers! While you’re at it, check out this post about all the social media trends and tools for 2014. […]

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